Now in its eighth year, The Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing is awarded annually to the book which most successfully inspires readers to explore the outdoors and to nurture a respect for the natural world. Named after much-loved nature writer Alfred Wainwright, the prizes will be awarded to the work which best reflects Wainwright’s core values and are a celebration of the outdoors or a warning over the dangers to it across the globe.
The Wainwright Prize is split into two categories:
Our Book of the Month for August, from the winner of the Nan Shepherd Prize, takes us from London to New Zealand, Shanghai to Malaysia via a lyrical, poetic essay collection that blends memoir with powerful writing on the natural world.
Home is many people and places and languages, some separated by oceans.
The Lake District is justifiably one of Britain’s most popular national parks, offering a treasure trove of attractions for outdoor enthusiasts and more leisure conscious visitors alike. Whatever the weather, the mountain light of this special landscape is reflected in the beautiful lakes and tarns, and while the wild open fells provide a backdrop for some, they remain the main focus for any keen walker.
London is a city justly proud of its cultural diversity, yet for too long tourists and Londoners alike have had to rely on guides focusing on its white history and landmarks. Now Black London allows us to see this familiar city anew, gathering together the places that tell the story of its Black inhabitants, stretching back to Tudor times.
From Cleopatra’s Needle sitting on the Victoria Embankment, carved in Egypt three and a half thousand years ago, to the Black Lives Matters mural in Woolwich, the city is rich with features that symbolise its Black history.
Here are places worth visiting and revisiting. Get your bearings, revise your history, and be inspired by the work of some remarkable individuals who made London a truly global, modern city.
As well as historical information and recommendations on where to go, there are lots of Black events in London throughout the year. Here are some dates for you to add to diary from Black London by Avril Nanton & Jody Burton:
In our Book of the Month for July, Londoner Tharik Hussain sets off with his wife and young daughters around the Western Balkans, home to the largest indigenous Muslim population in Europe, and explores the regions of Eastern Europe where Islam has shaped places and people for more than half a millennium. Encountering blonde-haired, blue-eyed Muslims, visiting mystical Islamic lodges clinging to the side of mountains, and praying in mosques older than the Sistine Chapel, he paints a picture of a hidden Muslim Europe, a vibrant place with a breathtaking history, spellbinding culture and unique identity.
Minarets in The Mountains, the first English travel narrative by a Muslim writer on this subject, also explores the historical roots of European Islamophobia. Tharik and his family learn lessons about themselves and their own identity as Britons, Europeans and Muslims. Following in the footsteps of renowned Ottoman traveller Evliya Celebi, they remind us that Europe is as Muslim as it is Christian, Jewish or pagan.
Like William Dalrymple’s In Xanadu, this is a vivid reimagining of a region’s cultural heritage, unveiling forgotten Muslim communities, empires and their rulers; and like Kapka Kassabova’s Border, it is a quest that forces us to consider what makes up our own identities, and more importantly, who decides?
Watch Tharik Hussain introduce Minarets in the Mountains.
Are you the kind of person who can’t walk past a plaque or a monument without reading every single word? Here, Steve Silk, the author of The Great North Road, talks us through his five favourites along the 400 miles between London and Edinburgh.
As a crucial route linking London to Edinburgh, the Great North Road has been Britain’s backbone for centuries. Kings, queens, soldiers, rebels, mail coaches and highwaymen used the road to get from A to B. One hundred years later journalist Steve Silk went on pilgrimage by bike to explore its history. At a slower pace it’s easier to notice key markers and signs of the past that surround us…
GLOBETROTTER NELLIE BLY’S ADVICE FOR THE ADVENTURER
Six top tips
By Rosemary J Brown
Trailblazing journalist Nellie Bly circled the world faster than anyone ever had in 1890. She travelled alone — literally with the clothes on her back and a Gladstone bag – to beat the fictional 80-day record of Phileas Fogg. When she won her race around the world in 72 days, it was called “the most remarkable of all feats of circumnavigation ever performed by a human being”.
While I was writing The Life and Travels of Isabella Birdthe question on my mind was: could we possibly have similar adventures to Isabella today? While travelling to hitherto unknown countries Isabella’s methods to reach the heart of a place, its people, their culture and the wildest features of its landscape would be totally off limits to us today; in a century and a half we have cleaned up and commingled our world and turned slow travel into fast.
Of all the British Isles, the Isles of Scilly are the most blessed. Basking in sunshine, rising green and pleasant from the blue Atlantic Ocean, fringed by rugged cliffs and sandy beaches, these self-contained little worlds are a joy to explore. They are as close to a tropical paradise as it is possible to be in the British Isles, with more sunshine hours than anyone else enjoys. There are no tall mountains, but the rocks around the coast are as dramatic as you’ll find anywhere. There are no extensive moorlands, but you’ll forget that as you walk round the open heathery headlands. The islands may be small in extent, but the eye is deceived and readily imagines vast panoramas and awesome seascapes. Views to the sea take in jagged rocks that have ripped many a keel and wrecked many a ship. The islands are clothed in colourful flowers, both cultivated and wild, and attract a rich bird life, including native breeding species and seasonal migrants. And always, there is the sea.
The Isles of Scilly form the smallest of Britain’s Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and their historic shores have been designated as Heritage Coast. The surrounding sea is protected as a Marine Park of great biodiversity. Archaeological remains abound, not only on the islands, but also submerged beneath the sea. The Isles of Scilly are special, revealing their secrets and charms to those who walk the headlands, sail from island to island, and take the time to observe the sights, sounds and scents of the landscape. While the walks in this guidebook could be completed in as little as a week, a fortnight would allow a much more leisurely appreciation of the islands, and leave memories that will last for a lifetime.
In our Book of the Month for June, Outlandish: Walking Europe’s Unlikely Landscapes acclaimed travel writer Nick Hunt takes us across landscapes that should not be there, wildernesses found in Europe yet seemingly belonging to far-off continents: a patch of Arctic tundra in Scotland; the continent’s largest surviving remnant of primeval forest in Poland and Belarus; Europe’s only true desert in Spain; and the fathomless grassland steppes of Hungary.
